Although many believed it was a love song that Paul was writing for a girl, he later disclosed the song was about marijuana in Barry Miles‘ book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. Many lyrics from the song suggested this – “I took a ride I didn’t know what I would find there / Another road where maybe I could see some other kind of mind there.”, “What can I do, what can I be when I’m with you I want to stay there / If I am true I will never leave and if I do I know the way there.”

As much as I love the Beatles and Paul McCartney, this particular Earth, Wind and Fire version tugs my memories because of the horns. I played lead trumpet on this in high school and college.

I can’t help it. I love the horns…

I would also say that if people knew and understood what I know and understand about marijuana, you’d be getting her into your life, as well.

I will wait with anticipation for a quick MSM report (crickets chirping).

NORML tells us that cannabis does not impact brain function. Hell, I’m walking proof of this. I once wrote about how, when in college, I began a daily regimen and my grades skyrocketed: holding a 4.0 for 3 semesters straight (President’s List) and The Dean’s list every other semester. I am living proof that it not only doesn’t minimize brain function, it enhanced mine.

I also wrote in that same article about how I think it may have helped a friend of mine (Dog) who died very early from lung cancer (he smoked but also worked at Intex Plastics, which was called “The Cancer Factory”, by many people I know). He stopped using marijuana and quickly faded and died (and I miss him dearly). But now my “hunches” and “personal testimony” have some real science behind them. Both articles below penned by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director (pay very close attention to that last sentence he wrote about how long our government has known about these benefits). One could conclude that they are criminals… but, hell, everyone knows that already, right?

The consumption of cannabis, even long-term, has a “minimal” impact on brain function, according to a systematic literature review just published online by the journal Psychological Medicine.

An international team of investigators from the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Australia, and Switzerland conducted a systematic review of the effects of cannabis on brain structure and function.

Authors wrote, “We reviewed literature reporting neuroimaging studies of chronic or acute cannabis use published up until January 2009. … Sixty-six studies were identified, of which 41 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty-three were functional (SPECT/PET/fMRI) and eight structural (volumetric/DTI) imaging studies. … Only three of the structural imaging studies found differences between users and controls.”

Investigators concluded, “Minimal evidence of major effects of cannabis on brain structure has been reported,” noting that marijuana users and controls perform similarly on cognitive tasks.

According to a 2001 study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, long-term cannabis smokers who abstained from pot for one week “showed virtually no significant differences from control subjects (those who had smoked marijuana less than 50 times in their lives) on a battery of 10 neuropsychological tests.” Investigators added, “Former heavy users, who had consumed little or no cannabis in the three months before testing, [also] showed no significant differences from control subjects on any of these tests on any of the testing days.”

Yet to date, virtually no investigators have taken the time to assess marijuana’s potential anti-cancer effects in humans — until now.

In a clinical abstract just published online on the Cancer Prevention Research website, a team of U.S. investigators report that marijuana use, even long-term, is associated with a “significantly reduced risk” of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Cannabinoids, constituents of marijuana smoke, have been recognized to have potential anti-tumor properties. However, the epidemiologic evidence addressing the relationship between marijuana use and the induction of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is inconsistent and conflicting. Cases (n = 434) were patients with incident HNSCC disease from nine medical facilities in the Greater Boston, MA area between December 1999 and December 2003. Controls (n = 547) were frequency matched to cases on age (+/-3 years), gender, and town of residence, randomly selected from Massachusetts town books.

… After adjusting for potential confounders (including smoking and alcohol drinking), 10 to 20 years of marijuana use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of HNSCC [odds ratio (OR)(10-<20 years versus never users), 0.38; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.22-0.67]. Among marijuana users moderate weekly use was associated with reduced risk (OR(0.5-<1.5 times versus <0.5 time), 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32-0.85). The magnitude of reduced risk was more pronounced for those who started use at an older age (OR(15-<20 years versus never users), 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30-0.95; OR(>/=20 years versus never users), 0.39; 95% CI, 0.17-0.90; P(trend) < 0.001).

Our study suggests that moderate marijuana use is associated with reduced risk of HNSCC.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. What possible advancements in the treatment of cancer could have been achieved over the past 35 years had U.S. government officials, or for that matter members of the mainstream media, chosen to advance — rather than to suppress — clinical research into the anti-cancer effects of cannabis? It’s a shame we have to speculate; it’s even more tragic that tens of thousands of families must needlessly suffer while we do.

For some 35 years the United States federal government has been well aware that cannabis possesses potent anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. And for the past three years, government-funded researchers have speculated that these qualities may offer “protective” effects against the onset of various types of cancer in humans, including lung cancer.

So let’s get this straight: It doesn’t cause all the brain damage that they have been warning us against. And, not only does it NOT cause cancer, it is preventative and offers protection against cancers, especially lung cancer (something I have pondered several times at this blog already). Again, shall we hear the rave reviews from the MSM? Of course not: pot prohibition is Big Money and they will not upset that cash cow, even to save lives.

Take up the White Man’s burden –
In patience to abide
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another’s profit,
And work another’s gain.

Take up the White Man’s burden –
The savage wars of peace –
Fill full the mouth of famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man’s burden –
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper –
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead !

Take up the White Man’s burden –
And reap his old reward,
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard –
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah slowly !) towards the light:-
“Why brought ye us from bondage,
“Our loved Egyptian night ?”

Take up the White Man’s burden –
Ye dare not stoop to less –
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man’s burden –
Have done with childish days –
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgement of your peers.

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